Agenda Alamo Area Council of Governments Air Improvement Resources Executive Committee Wednesday, May 27, 2015 – 8:30 a.m. Al J. Notzon III Board Room 8700 Tesoro Drive San Antonio, TX 78217-6228 1. Meeting Called to Order 2. Roll Call 3. Citizens to be Heard 4. Consider and act upon approval of the January 28th, 2015 minutes 5. Air Quality Outreach and Education Report 6. Ozone Status A. 2015 Ozone Season Update B. Updates on the Proposed Ozone Standard C. Responses from Other Governments and Organizations to EPA’s Proposed Ozone Standard 7. Consider and act upon membership recommendations for the AIR Advisory Committee: Colin Leyden – Environmental Defense Fund 8. Ozone Advance Program A. 2015 Path Forward Plan B. Consider and act upon response to EPA regarding their comments on the 2014 Path Forward Plan 9. Bi-annual air Quality Funding and State Legislative Update 10. Photochemical Modeling Status 11. Potential Cost of Non-Attainment 12. Next Meeting, July 22nd, 2015 13. Adjournment This meeting is accessible to people with disabilities. The accessible entrance is located at the front entrance of 8700 Tesoro Drive. Accessible parking spaces are also available. Please contact AACOG for auxiliary aids and services for the hearing impaired, including interpreters for the deaf, at (210) 362-5200 at least 48 hours prior to the meeting or by calling Texas Relay at 7-1-1 for assistance. DRAFT Agenda Item 4: Consider and act upon approval of the Jan. 28, 2015 minutes. Minutes of the Air Improvement Resources Executive Committee Meeting Alamo Area Council of Governments Wednesday Jan. 28, 2015 at 8:30 a.m. Al J. Notzon III Board Room 8700 Tesoro Drive, Suite 100 San Antonio, Texas 78217 Committee Members Guests Councilman Ron Nirenberg, Chair, COSA Joe Eutizi, San Miguel Electric Coop Mayor Chris Riley, Vice Chair, Leon Valley Lee Cover, CEMEX Judge Richard L. Jackson, Wilson County Samuel Kline, JBSA, Lackland Judge Sherman Krause, Comal County Liza Meyer, City of San Antonio Judge Nelson Wolff, Bexar County ( Andy Winter) Chris Ashcraft, STEER, VP Commissioner Jim Wolverton, Guadalupe County Craig Taylor, Communities for Veterans Dub Smothers, Concerned Citizen Maricela Diaz-Wells Lyle Hufstetler AACOG Saff AirTech/Air Advisory Members Brenda Williams, Interim Director of Natural Resources Russell Seal, Sierra Club Steve Smeltzer, Environmental Manager Peter Bella, ImagineSA Annette Prosterman, Transportation Coordinator Kim Stoker, CPS Energy Parviz Nazem, Environmental Modeler Lyza Meyer, COSA Nic Jones, Clean City Coordinator Dr. Vincent Nathan, COSA Nick Page, Alamo Area MPO Dean Word, Andy Quittner, City of Sequin 1. Meeting called to order Commissioner Jim Wolverton called the meeting to order at 8:37 a.m. 2. Roll call A quorum was achieved. 3. Citizens to be heard There were no citizens to be heard. 4. Approval of Minutes Judge Richard L. Jackson made a motion to approve the minutes of Oct. 22, 2014 and Mayor Chris Riley seconded the motion. The motion carried and the minutes were approved unanimously. 5. Consider and act upon election of a Chair and Vice-Chair for the Air Improvement Resources Executive Committee Commissioner Jim Wolverton asked the floor to nominate members for the positions of Chair and Vice-Chair. Judge Richard L. Jackson nominated Councilman Ron Nirenberg for the Air Improvement Resources Executive Committee Page 1 January 28, 2015 DRAFT Agenda Item 4: Consider and act upon approval of the Jan. 28, 2015 minutes. position of Chair, and he was elected unanimously. Then Councilman Ron Nirenberg nominated Mayor Chris Riley for the Vice Chair position and she was unanimously elected by the Committee members. 6. Ozone Standard A: Air Quality 101 Councilman Ron Nirenberg took the place of Committee’s Chair and moved on to the item number 6 on the agenda. Mr. Steven Smeltzer provided a presentation in regards to the Clean Air Act and rules and regulation encompassing the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, which are promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). He said the law requires EPA to review the standards every 5 years, and conduct scientific studies to determine if the standards are adequate and protect public health and welfare. The rule of states is then to put programs in place to reduce pollution so that the standards are met. No economic cost will be taken into account when the standards are implemented. On Aug. 29, 2014 the EPA published a 597-page report, which cited the scientific data for revising the national standard for ozone. Nov. 25, 2014: EPA's released a proposal to set the standard between 65 to 70 ppb and would consider comments on 60 ppb and the existing 75 ppb through March 17, 2015. Mr. Smeltzer stated that the region currently is in violation of air quality standards, but he anticipated that the region’s design value, most likely, will be based on values from 2014 to 2016 after the release of the new ozone standard, which is advantageous to the San Antonio region, as the values for 2012 and 2013 are considerably higher than that of 2014. If the region does not meet the revised standard and is designated under the new standard, then a SIP must be submitted by October 1, 2020. If the region wants to be in a good position by 2020, we’ll need to implement air quality control strategies much earlier than this date. Mr. Smeltzer pointed out that the San Antonio- New Braunfels MSA, comprising 8 counties would be the basis for the non-attainment designation, and for a “marginal” non-attainment area such as San Antonio region, the attainment deadline is set to Dec. 31, 2020. The attainment date for area designated as “Moderate”, which indicates a more severe case of violation is set to Dec. 31, 2023. B: Consider and act upon forwarding comments to EPA in response to the new proposed ozone standard zone Standard Updates Mr. Smeltzer also presented a letter to the Committee for their approval, which included 7 comments all approved by Air Technical and Air Advisory committees’ members for submitting to the EPA. The comments were as follows: 1. EPA should delay nonattainment designations for the revised ozone standard until 2018 to allow regions to benefit from the implementation of federal air quality controls which will occur in 2017, such as the Tier 3 vehicle and fuel standards, increased turnover of non-road equipment to Tier 4 standards, and other federal controls. 2. Due to monitoring uncertainty, EPA should allow +15% ppb variance in the calculated design value used to determine attainment. EPA allows +/- 15% error in data accuracy for approving the calibrations of ozone monitors. 3. EPA should consider the number of exceedances allowed by other industrialized nations when implementing the ozone standard. For example, the European Union states that Air Improvement Resources Executive Committee Page 2 January 28, 2015 DRAFT Agenda Item 4: Consider and act upon approval of the Jan. 28, 2015 minutes. the maximum daily 8-hour mean concentration of ozone should not exceed 120 μg/m3 (60 ppb) on more than 25 days per calendar year averaged over three years.1 4. EPA should consider rigorously monitoring and evaluating data of all areas, both attainment and nonattainment areas, to understand intrastate and interstate transport and protect downwind areas that might be significantly affected by transported emissions. Transport significantly impacts local ozone concentrations. Unfortunately, the Clean Air Act relies on implementation of local strategies for an area to regain attainment, but at this time, no combination of local strategies has been demonstrated as being effective enough for the San Antonio – New Braunfels MSA to reach attainment without concurrent reductions in transport. 5. EPA should recognize the role of interstate, intrastate, and international transport in the calculations and implementation of ozone standards. While we welcome discussions with the EPA on methods to mitigate local contributions to ozone formation, we cannot enact reduction strategies which act beyond our jurisdiction. Moreover, those agencies responsible for air quality management beyond the San Antonio – New Braunfels MSA must provide appropriate reductions within their jurisdictions and authorities, as required, to assist the local nonattainment region’s efforts to regain attainment status. 6. Permitting rules need to require an evaluation of ozone impacts using photochemical grid modeling. Permits should be modified or denied if adverse health impacts or violations of the NAAQS will occur either downwind or within a given attainment/nonattainment area as a result of permit action. 7. When setting the attainment date for areas downwind of other nonattainment areas, consideration should be given to allow appropriate control strategy implementation in the upwind areas as necessary to allow the downwind area to achieve compliance. Councilman Ron Nirenberg, Chair, asked the floor for any comments; there was no comment so he asked for a motion to approve the content of letter for submission to the EPA and Commissioner Jim Wolverton made the motion, which was seconded by Judge Richard L. Jackson. The motion carried and the letter’s content was approved unanimously. C. Consider and act upon asking EPA for a response to TCEQ’s letter on how the proposed lower ozone standards will not accomplish its stated goal of protecting human health Mr. Smeltzer showed a letter that contained opinion of TCEQ in regards to the EPA’s proposed new national ozone standard and asked the Committee members if they would like to ask the EPA to respond to the assertion made by the TCEQ as to “EPA’s proposed lower ozone standards will not accomplish its stated goal of protecting human health.” He also asked Mr. Andy Quittner and Mr. Dean Word to express the opinion of their respective committee members in regards to this letter.